NCJ Number
250763
Journal
Police Chief Dated: March 2013
Date Published
March 2013
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article by the Acting Administrator of the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) discusses OJJDP's role in addressing children's exposure to violence as a risk factor for delinquency, with attention to how this effort is involving law enforcement agencies.
Abstract
The National Institute of Justice reports that children who are abused or neglected are 59 percent more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28 percent more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30 percent more likely to commit violent crime. Because of this connection, OJJDP emphasizes the importance of trauma-informed programs and services for children who are at risk of entering the juvenile justice system and for those who have entered the system. In 2011, the U.S. Attorney General appointed a national task force of 13 experts, including Police Chief Jim McDonnell of the Long Beach (California) Police Department, to recommend policies for prevening, responding to, and mitigating the effects of children's exposure to violence. The task force recently presented its final report, which included comprehensive policy recommendations for launching a national response to address children's exposure to violence. The recommendations are expected to be the blueprint for addressing children's exposure to violence across the Nation. Law enforcement agencies are central to the response to children's exposure to violence. OJJDP issued a solicitation in 2012 to provide training and technical assistance resources to State, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to improve the prevention of, identification of, and response to children's exposure to violence. Under this funding, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) will expand its training resources to include a focus on children's exposure to violence. Some of its efforts are described in this article.